“It’s like a parlor game at small group meetings,” says one man. “Everyone has their opinion.”

Ever since Richard Tremblay went public with his “mid-life challenge,” Vallejo Christian Center has been guessing what might be the cause. Tremblay announced one Sunday that he was going through a “trying personal time for no reason he could readily identify.”

Some people think that, with one daughter left at home, he is empty nesting. Some blame hormonal changes and “man-opause.” Some blame toxins in the city drinking water; others insist it’s a spiritual attack.

Still others believe they caused it somehow. One man blames himself for turning down a golf invitation with Tremblay. The elderly ladies in the Saturday morning prayer circle fault themselves for only lifting up their pastor in prayer three hours a week. One woman chided herself for not bringing over homemade brownies when she felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to do so.

Tremblay gets dozens of books from parishioners trying to help, from What Color Is Your Parachute? to My Utmost for His Highest Personal Journal. He has been inundated with desserts, casseroles and invitations to golf, hang glide and fly fish.

“The way we’ve been treating him, I’d be surprised if he ever gets back to normal,” says one woman.•